


No Such Thing as a Good War

by Scampy



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Action, Emotional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-31
Updated: 2016-03-31
Packaged: 2018-05-30 08:02:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6415540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scampy/pseuds/Scampy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pearl and Rose are confronted by a survivor of one of the Rebellion’s first attacks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Such Thing as a Good War

It was long into the night when Pearl first spotted her, a dark outline of someone against the light of the moon.

She was small, to be sure. Taller than a Ruby and as lithe as Pearl herself, but shorter all the same. A cloak was draped around her shoulder, fluttering in the evening breeze. Its fabric was frayed and covered with holes, so that the cloak’s silhouette against the full moon was dotted with over a dozen tiny white spots that shone like stars against the night sky.

“We don’t want to hurt you, little one,” Rose said, even as she tightened her grip on her sword. “What is your name?”

“Don’t pretend like you care. I’ve seen what you’re capable of. I’ve seen what you call mercy.” The small gem began to walk forward. “It’s the same kind of mercy you deserve.”

“Don’t you dare threaten Rose Quartz in front of me!” Pearl shouted. She stepped between Rose and the dark figure, raised both her blades, and crossed them.

The gem stopped and turned towards her. “There she is. You know, I’ve never killed anyone before. How do you make it look so easy?”

“Threaten Rose again and I’ll show you.”

“I heard a story before arriving on Earth,” the gem said. “A story of a Pearl whose loyalty belonged to a traitor. A Pearl who slaughtered her fellow gems by the hundreds.”

Is that what they say about me back home? Pearl wondered. She was almost proud of it.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Rose Quartz stood beside her, weapon in hand. “I heard a different story,” she said. “A story of a merciless race that came to this planet to wipe out all life that wasn’t their own.”

“You would know about wiping out life, Rose Quartz.”

At that, Rose pointed her sword at the gem, glaring. “Why are you here?” She demanded.

“The Gems you killed had names. They cared about each other. Many of them were my friends.”

“And you intend to take revenge for their sakes?”

The gem moved down from the hill. Pearl could see her more clearly now. Strands of dark lavender hair bounced slightly as the gem approached. White spots dotted her face, and they seemed to lazily shift and wander from cheek to cheek. Her skin was pitch black, blacker than anything Pearl had ever seen. That is, until the gem threw her cloak into the wind.

The gemstone in the gem’s chest was so dark, Pearl wasn’t sure it was there at all. Bands of moonlight illuminated some of the gem’s body, but any of them that touched the gemstone at her center were snuffed out.

Pearl could make out all of the gem’s face now. Grey lips were frowning beneath a small black nose, and when she looked up, Pearl saw her eyes. They were a deep, piercing violet, and gave off a soft glow of purple light that illuminated the rest of the gem’s face. And those eyes were filled with hatred. When the gem’s glare fell on her, Pearl backed away—until she felt Rose touching her shoulder.

“Don’t be afraid, Pearl. I know this gem. Her name is—”

“Onyx,” the gem interrupted. “And I won’t let you hurt anyone, ever again.”

Rose stood before Onyx, towering over her. “Neither of us want to hurt you, Onyx. Now please, leave this place before you do something you will regret.”

“I heard a story about you too, Rose Quartz. I heard you claim you’re protecting the creatures of this planet, as if their lives are more precious than the ones you’ve taken.”

“Enough. Go now, or I will make you.”

“Your story and this Pearl’s have something in common, you know. Two traitors who use the guise of preservation as an excuse to kill anyone who looks at them funny. And they have something else in common, too.”

“And what’s that?” Rose said.

“They end tonight.”

Before Pearl could even react, Onyx drew a thin black sabre from behind her back. Pearl watching in horror as Onyx thrust the blade at Rose—only to have it swatted aside by the latter’s massive pink sword. Rose followed with a single punch to Onyx’s stomach that sent her rolling across the grass.

Pearl breathed a short sigh of relief. Doubting Rose Quartz is as foolish for me as it is insulting to her, she thought. Still, as she made her way to Rose’s side, she berated herself. She should have expected Onyx to strike first.

“Nnnngh...” Onyx groaned, struggling to stand. Using her sabre, she pushed herself upright and evened her gaze with Rose’s. Her breaths were ragged and slow. There was no way Onyx could keep this up for long.

“Don’t make me hurt you again,” Rose said, her expression hardening.

Steadying herself, Onyx’s eyes shifted to Pearl for a single second. Then she lifted her needle-thin blade and pointed it at Rose’s gem. “No one else will die because of you!” She cried, and rushed forward in a blur of black and violet. Pearl raised her swords and dashed forth to intercept Rose’s assailant, only to have the smaller gem drop and slide beneath her wide stance.

Pearl gasped and spun, and saw Rose step swiftly to the side and kick Onyx in the side so hard that her projected form shivered for the briefest moment as she flew into a tree. Even still, Pearl felt a pit in her chest. How did I let this gem get to Rose twice?

“Just give up!” Rose shouted. “You can’t win, Onyx. I know White Diamond’s court. None of you are fighters.”

Onyx rolled over and coughed before barely lifting herself to one knee. “Neither was she,” Onyx said, gesturing at Pearl. “But she’s a killer all the same.”

“It takes more than a weapon to become a warrior,” Pearl said. She approached her opponent with slow, even steps. “And more than training to kill another gem.”

“I guess you’d be the expert on the last one, huh?” Onyx stood upright once more, leaning against the tree.

Pearl stopped at that. In the shade of the tree, most of Onyx’s face was smothered in shadows, but her eyes still glowed with violet malice, and they confused Pearl as much as they frightened her. Why can’t she understand? What is so awful about protecting the Earth?

“It’s not about killing anyone!” She said. “It’s about—”

“What, fighting the system?” Onyx interrupted.

“Wha—huh?”

“I get it. You’re a Pearl, and most gems treat you like garbage. Does that excuse all the death you’ve caused?”

“No! I mean, I don’t...” Her voice trailed off as Rose strode past her, sword in hand.

“We take no pride in what we must do to save this planet, little one,” she said. “But we will turn back anyone, gem or otherwise, that tries to harm the inhabitants of this world.”

Onyx sighed, thrust her sabre into the dirt, and lowered her head. Pearl raised her own at that. Was she giving up?

Then she heard it—giggling, faint but clear. “Don’t lie to me,” Onyx spoke softly. “I bet you’re both proud of how many gem shards you’re responsible for.” She reached behind her back, and Pearl saw a dim blue light begin to glow against the tree behind Onyx.

In less than a second, she spun once and her hand lashed out. From it, a blinking razor disk shot out and tore through the dark night air in a stream of cerulean. Pearl moved to swat it out of the air with her blades, but she swung and missed. A horrible impact sounded behind her.

“Rose!” She cried out. Pearl turned, eyes wide with terror—only to see Rose’s palm outstretched. The disk was blinking in the grass behind her, and Rose stood unmoving with a confused expression on her face.

She must have blocked it, Pearl thought. She must have.

And yet, Rose was motionless. Then a sliver of bright light grew across Rose’s hand, and Pearl realized why.

In a single ear-splitting bang, Rose’s body disappeared in a cloud of pink dust. “Rose!” Pearl screamed. She reached desperately into the rapidly thinning mist, praying that she’d feel Rose in there somewhere. But there was nothing. The smoke cleared, Pearl heard the soft sound of a wide sword hitting dirt, and Rose’s gem lay still in the fluttering grass.

Before she could even cry out again, Pearl heard the rush of something behind her, and turned around just in time to see Onyx’s shoulder crash into her at blinding speed, sending her spinning away from Rose’s gem. The world disappeared into a spiral of muted colors until Pearl skidded to a stop.

“Nnnngh...” Too dazed to stand, Pearl opened one eye and struggled to make out where Onyx was, and most importantly, where Rose was. She spotted both of them not more than fifty feet away. Onyx stood, sabre in hand, above Rose’s defenseless gem. And yet, as she leveled the blade to shatter Rose, she stopped short.

Pearl’s vision steadied, and she saw Onyx’s arm was shaking. And between her and Pearl, a pair of swords shone with a pale silver.

With one swift motion, Pearl dove forward, caught her weapons in a roll, and leapt forward with her blades crossed. Onyx saw her and raised her sabre to catch the attack. The three blades clashed together, the echoes of steel ringing into the air. Pearl swung both of her swords outwards, sliding them along Onyx’s sabre until the black gem was knocked back. In that moment, Pearl snatched up Rose’s gem and tossed it into the trees.

She spun around to catch Onyx in a thrust. She attempted to hit the sabre away, only to realize too late that Onyx wasn’t aiming for her. The needle point of Onyx’s blade slid between Pearl’s fingers and the grip of her left sword. She stabbed at Onyx’s chest with her right sword, but Onyx dodged by leaping over Pearl’s head. As she did, her wrist flicked and Pearl’s left sword was pulled from her grip and sent flying into the darkness.

As Pearl’s eyes tried to follow the glint of her blade, she heard Onyx land behind her. Instinctively, Pearl ducked into a split and swung her leg out to catch Onyx’s footing. Instead, her opponent took a short hop back, only to dive forward and catch Pearl with a swift punch in the chest. Pearl stumbled back, gripping her remaining sword with both hands, then rushed forward with a cry. Her blade locked with Onyx’s, and suddenly the two of them were face to face.

“How many are dead because of you?!” Onyx screamed. She glared upwards at Pearl, her purple eyes filled with fury. “How many more have to shatter before you’re satisfied?!”

Don’t let her get to you. Pearl pushed her sword harder, causing Onyx to slide back slightly. “I did what I did to protect the Earth!” She shouted.

“Don’t act like you’re repentant! You look like the kind of atrocity that revels in killing!”

“I don’t—”

“You’re a murderer! A traitor to your own kind!”

At that, Pearl slid her blade upwards along Onyx’s, and when the weapons lost contact she struck her opponent with the hilt of her sword, causing Onyx to stumble. “My own kind thought I was an object!” She screamed. “A tool! Something to be used and discarded!”

As Onyx tried to regain her footing, Pearl swiped at her legs. When she jumped, Pearl lifted a leg up as high as she could and brought it crashing down on Onyx’s head, leaving her flat on the ground. Before Onyx could move, Pearl grabbed her sabre and tossed it away, hearing it landed next to the blinking disk that poofed Rose.

She turned around, and lined her sword up to the pitch black gem in Onyx’s chest. “Never again will I submit to those who think I’m a possession. I won’t go back to being a slave.”

“So being treated poorly by some gems gives you the right to kill us all?”

“Don’t make me do this!”

“As if you don’t want to.”

Pearl gritted her teeth. She was a warrior, not an executioner. And Rose would never condone striking down a defenseless opponent. There had to be another way.

“It’s not like that. I don’t want to kill you, Onyx.”

The smaller gem scoffed. “And what about all the other gems that died by your hand?”

“How many of them wanted to destroy this planet? The beings of Earth deserve to live!”

“And the gems you murdered didn’t?”

“I—” Pearl’s voice failed her. How many gems had she killed who were just following orders? Pearls were hardly the only subjected gems. How many Rubies, how many Quartz, how many others had died just for doing what they were told?

“That’s what I thought.”

As lost in thought as she was, Pearl didn’t notice that Onyx was moving until it was too late. Still on her back, the black gem swept her leg under Pearl’s own stance, knocking Pearl to the ground. Then Onyx was standing up and pulling a grey cylinder from her belt. She pressed a button on it’s top, and instantly disappeared in a column of light.

Pearl shot up and spun around. Where had she gone? Had she run away?

Then she heard the familiar sound of a warp beam, and the clearing lit up with brilliant white light. When the beam was gone and darkness returned, Pearl saw Onyx reach down and pick up her sabre, and then the razor disk that had poofed Rose.

“Weaponized warp technology,” she said. “Cool, huh? I’m sure Yellow Diamond won’t miss this prototype.”

Before Pearl could speak, Onyx launched the razor disk at her. It lit up with a deadly blue sheen, and Pearl dove out of the way as the disk skidded into the dirt next to her. Then, as she stood, the disk glowed white and Onyx appeared in a column of light, her sabre already in mid-swing.

Pearl raised her blade to block, but the unexpected attack had caught her off guard. The sabre’s strike pushed her back, but Onyx’s punch to her jaw knocked her down. She opened her eyes just in time to see Onyx holding her sabre to her chest, but she was hesitating. Pearl took the moment to try and kick up, but Onyx headbutted her back into the dirt and threw the razor disk somewhere behind her.

As she did, Pearl flipped up and swung in a wide arc, but her blade found only air as Onyx disappeared once more. There was a flash behind her, and Pearl turned, expecting an attack by sword, only to see Onyx hurling the disk at her point blank. She dove to the side, rolling into a one-knee stance, and saw a curving stream of blue light as the disk came back around. Pearl ducked, expecting the disk to pass overhead, but there was another burst of light and Onyx warped again, caught the disk out of the air and came at her from above. Pearl raised her blade horizontally and caught the attack, before standing tall and smashing Onyx in the head with the hilt of her sword.

As Onyx tumbled back, Pearl took the moment’s respite to catch her breath. If she could predict or react quickly enough, she could keep catching Onyx off guard right out of her warp. At the very least, though, she had to disarm her of her sabre, her disk, and her warp button. None of those were going to be easy.

With a desperate scream, Onyx charged her again, this time throwing the disk while sprinting forward. Pearl sidestepped it, and when she saw Onyx reach for the warp button, she swung her sword behind herself—only to have Onyx materialize with her sabre in the perfect position to block. The smaller gem, violet eyes burning, parried Pearl’s attack and grabbed her by the throat before slamming her into the ground.

With a gasp, Pearl’s eyes opened to see Onyx’s sabre inches away from the gem in her forehead. She reached and arm out for her sword, only to watch it be swatted away by a needle-thin blade. Onyx stomped down hard on Pearl’s chest, pinning her, and pointed her weapon at Pearl’s gem once again.

Shaking, Pearl shut her eyes. This was it. Onyx was going to kill her. Then she was going to kill Rose. Then Homeworld would tear the Earth apart from the inside out, and the rebellion would be for nothing.

As she lay there in trepidation, though, Pearl noticed she was still alive. She opened one eye, and then another. Onyx was still holding her down, and still had her blade leveled to Pearl’s gem. But her arm was shaking. And tears were welling up in her eyes.

She can’t do it, Pearl realized. She doesn’t want to do it.

“I... You...” Onyx stuttered in a shivering voice barely above a whisper.

I can reason with her. We can all walk away from this.

“Onyx, please listen to me. I was just like you once. I thought I was a perfect judge of good and evil and everything in between.”

“No!” Onyx shouted. “Shut up! You’re a monster and you have to be stopped!”

“I thought the Diamonds were good. No matter how many planets the devastated, how many lives they ended, it was all for the benefit and security of their fellow gems."

“I said shut up!”

But Pearl continued. "I thought soldiers were good. They wanted to protect their homeworld, their friends, their race. They were told to conquer a planet, and they did it because that was their job. They were heroes, even as they slaughtered innocents by the millions."

Onyx was screaming now. “Be quiet! You’re a murderer! You killed all of them! You killed her!”

"I thought all gems were good,” Pearl said. “We were trying to improve the universe, to achieve maximum efficiency. It didn't matter how many species we wiped out, because we had noble ambitions and goals."

“I... Obsidian, I can’t—”

Slowly, Pearl started to stand, her eyes locked on Onyx’s sabre. But as she continued to rise, the sword began to lower.

“But Rose helped me understand, Onyx. What evil truly looks like.”

Onyx was silent. Then her sword fell, and she dropped to her knees.

“Evil looks good. But you aren’t evil, Onyx.”

“Obsidian...” Onyx spoke so softly Pearl could barely hear her. “Was she evil? Was she good? She died, all the same...”

Another member of White Diamond’s court, Pearl figured. A close friend, perhaps. Had she died earlier in the rebellion? It seemed unlikely—Rose was right that no members of White Diamond’s court were made for combat. Why would one be sent to Earth?

Pearl opened her mouth to speak, only to close it again. Onyx was silent too. With the constant clashes of steel over, the wind could be heard rustling gently through the leaves. One could be almost be forgiven for not even knowing what had just transpired there.

Eventually, Onyx whispered something, her voice broken up by sobs. “I-I’m so sorry, Obsidian... I just c-can’t. I can’t do it. If I do, I... I’d be no better than her...”

Pearl’s mind was racing. What would Rose do? She always knew exactly what to say to comfort others. Surely Pearl could try, too.

“I’m sure she was a good person” she blurted out.

“Huh?”

“Obsidian. I wish I could have met her, she sounds wonderful."

Onyx was silent. Pearl shifted in place. Had she said something wrong?

“You did,” Onyx muttered.

“Excuse me?”

“You met her when you attacked the secondary warp station to Homeworld. She didn’t even put up a fight, and you shattered her anyway.”

Then she remembered. She and Rose had intercepted a message telling the planet-side gems to expect more regular warps from Homeworld to Earth. Before the warps started, they had attacked the station, and she and Rose poofed or shattered every gem they could find. That must have included Obsidian.

“I... Onyx, I’m sorry, I never meant to take—”

“She was here to talk to you!" Onyx shouted. “White Diamond wanted to send our best negotiator to reach a peace agreement, and you cut her to pieces!”

Before Pearl could speak, Onyx shot up and kicked her so hard in the chest that when she slammed into the tree behind her, a sickening crack echoed through the forest followed by a heavy wooden thud.

Her body was screaming at her, begging her to retreat into her gem and regenerate. The world faded in and out and every sound was a high-pitched ring that made her want to scream. Then suddenly, she was being forced up. Onyx grabbed her by the neck and lifted Pearl to her face. “You think you’re so noble?” She spat. “You think you’re so righteous? It’s just like you said, Pearl. Evil looks good.”

Pearl felt her back slam into the jagged remains of the tree she’d crashed into, and when she opened her eyes she saw Onyx thrusting the sabre right at her forehead.

But before fear could even register, a blinding light filled the night. Onyx screamed and stumbled back, shielding her eyes. A sudden rejuvenation swept through Pearl’s body, then she realized it. The glow was coming from her own gem. She reached up to touch it, only to feel something else there.

Pearl stood as her fingers wrapped around the object protruding from her gem. Somehow, she knew she had to pull on it, as if she’d done so a thousand times before. As she pulled, the glow from her gem grew even more brilliant, but Pearl had no trouble seeing through the shine.

The glow died down, and Pearl held in her hand an immaculate spiraled spear. She marveled at its shape, its balance, its familiarity... Had she seen this weapon before? Why had it come from her gem just now? And why a spear instead of a sword?

Her thoughts were cut off by a scream. Onyx was charging her, sabre outstretched. “I won’t let you kill any more of my friends!” She shouted.

In a single swift motion, Pearl caught the point of Onyx’s blade in one of the spear’s spirals, spun and pulled the weapon from Onyx’s grasp, and knocked her to the ground with the other end of the spear. Then, before she or Onyx realized it, Pearl thrust the spear at Onyx’s chest—and right through her gem.

Onyx’s violet eyes widened with terror the moment her gem cracked, and then she was gone. The shards of her gem broke even more as they hit the ground, until all that was left of Onyx were a few dozen black splinters.

“I... I...”

Pearl’s legs shook for a moment, and then collapsed entirely. Her spear landed at her side and vanished in a flurry of sparks. It was over. She had won. Rose would regenerate and the rebellion could continue and the Earth would be saved.

And yet, she felt sick. Why was this one any different? Pearl thought about how many gems she’d broken since she and Rose began their attacks. Each Quartz was just another soldier, each Ruby was just another annoyance. But the more she thought about them, about their faces, about what they might have been doing up until the moment when Pearl put a sword through their gems and stole the rest of their lives from them...

Then she was in tears. She cried out into the empty night, sobbing next to a pile of black shards. She had killed so many gems. She could have poofed them, she could have subdued them, but she had killed them anyway. And not until Onyx did she feel any remorse for it.

Her eyes were dry and the sun had risen by the time Rose found her. Pearl hardly even noticed when she knelt down and picked her up, leaving Onyx’s remains behind.

As Rose cradled her and carried her away, Pearl thought about what Onyx had said about her story. She thought about Obsidian, and how things might have gone if she’d been given a chance to speak. She thought about how many gems she’d left to mourn their lost ones.

Then she thought about the spear.

It had saved her. It had ended the battle. Wasn’t that a good thing?

It had also ended Onyx. Her story was over, and Pearl and written the ending.

But the worst part, she realized, was that it wasn’t an ending.

It was only an end.


End file.
